My Experience with Curriculum
In one of my classes, we were asked to write an autobiographical statement about our experiences with curriculum as K-12 students. The prompt asked, "In this brief statement, you will discuss one or two of your own formative experiences with curriculum, and how these have affected your identity, beliefs, interests, or goals". It was hard to remember some of the details, as it was a while ago that I was in school. I wanted to share some of the things that I have written for class, so here is my autobiographical statement.
In elementary school I was labeled as “gifted” and was placed into a group of students that received advanced math instruction. This group of 5 became my friends, and we were in math classes together until high school. In elementary school, we were pulled out of class for special math classes. I was good at solving problems quickly and also had fun playing math games with my friends. In middle school, we were bussed to the high school down the street for our math period to take classes that weren’t available at our school. As I got older, I began to enjoy math less, did not understand it as well, and would occasionally leave class feeling a little confused. However, I continued to be a part of this math group. Schools and teachers saw me as a math person. Additionally, STEM was growing as a focus in education, which made math highly valued at the time. All of these factors put pressure on me to try to keep up with a subject I was losing interest in, and not exactly doing well in. This focus on math followed me into my college years. I entered college on the pre-medical track, because my main goal as a college freshman was to help people. I believed that I would be able to handle the college-level math and science coursework, but I did terribly, which caused my grades and my GPA to drop. This also caused a drop in my self-esteem and confidence. I felt like changing my goals or career path would mean giving up on my goals, and that made me feel like a failure. I went to speak to my biology professor, who’s class I was failing. He encouraged me to think about the subjects that I enjoyed and did well at, and what kind of careers could come out of those subjects. This led me to drop my pre-medical classes, and to begin to explore topics I came to love such as political science, global social movements, public health, and more. I made the dean’s list every semester after I dropped the pre-medical track, because I was enjoying and excelling at what I was learning.
I wish that earlier on, in my K-12 experience, that I was encouraged to explore my interests in other subjects, such as social studies, art, or literature. Because of this, I did not realize my love of writing until I reached adulthood. In the past few years, writing has become therapeutic for me. Today, and probably in my later K-12 years, I would much rather write and express my thoughts on a topic, than solve a math problem. Maybe if I had not been pushed towards math all that time, I would have found my interests in writing, and other writing-based subjects earlier.
Another aspect that I remember of my K-12 experience was not seeing myself or my history reflected in our curriculum. My family members were refugees and immigrants from Laos that came to the US as a result of the American War in Southeast Asia. In school we barely learned about this war. When we did, it was from an American viewpoint, which focused on the reasons America decided to go to war, and on war activities in Vietnam. We never learned about the effects that this war had on marginalized ethnic groups in Vietnam, or the effects of the war on the surrounding countries of Laos and Cambodia. As a result, I grew up knowing very little about how or why I was born in this country, and what my parents and family members had lived through. My family never talked about it, firstly because it wasn’t a pleasant subject, secondly because they trusted the school to teach me everything that I needed to know.
In the 10th grade, I took this matter into my own hands. We had to do a project on a topic of personal interest to us, and I chose to focus on the effects of the Vietnam War on Laos, and Laotian/Laotian Americans. I did my own research online and at the library, and I interviewed several community members. I began to piece together the history of my own family. I learned that Laotian Americans were living in the United States as a direct result of the war in Vietnam. Many came as refugees, some to escape the poverty and violence that the war caused. Others fled because the US had involved the Lao Royal Army in the war and anyone involved now face violent repercussions from the new government. Through that project, I learned that my grandfather and father fled because of the latter, and that is why I am here today. During the process of my project, my advising teacher asked me why this project was important to me. I did not know how to explain to her how much my newfound history weighed on me, how I came to realize that the whole course of my life was affected by this war. Since that time, I came to realize how important it was for students to learn about their own histories. Knowing where I came from strengthened my sense of identity and my connection to others from a similar background. It made me admire and respect my elders and family members more. Remembering how and why I am here motivates my work with immigrant and refugee youth and their education, and with Southeast Asian Americans facing deportation.
In elementary school I was labeled as “gifted” and was placed into a group of students that received advanced math instruction. This group of 5 became my friends, and we were in math classes together until high school. In elementary school, we were pulled out of class for special math classes. I was good at solving problems quickly and also had fun playing math games with my friends. In middle school, we were bussed to the high school down the street for our math period to take classes that weren’t available at our school. As I got older, I began to enjoy math less, did not understand it as well, and would occasionally leave class feeling a little confused. However, I continued to be a part of this math group. Schools and teachers saw me as a math person. Additionally, STEM was growing as a focus in education, which made math highly valued at the time. All of these factors put pressure on me to try to keep up with a subject I was losing interest in, and not exactly doing well in. This focus on math followed me into my college years. I entered college on the pre-medical track, because my main goal as a college freshman was to help people. I believed that I would be able to handle the college-level math and science coursework, but I did terribly, which caused my grades and my GPA to drop. This also caused a drop in my self-esteem and confidence. I felt like changing my goals or career path would mean giving up on my goals, and that made me feel like a failure. I went to speak to my biology professor, who’s class I was failing. He encouraged me to think about the subjects that I enjoyed and did well at, and what kind of careers could come out of those subjects. This led me to drop my pre-medical classes, and to begin to explore topics I came to love such as political science, global social movements, public health, and more. I made the dean’s list every semester after I dropped the pre-medical track, because I was enjoying and excelling at what I was learning.
I wish that earlier on, in my K-12 experience, that I was encouraged to explore my interests in other subjects, such as social studies, art, or literature. Because of this, I did not realize my love of writing until I reached adulthood. In the past few years, writing has become therapeutic for me. Today, and probably in my later K-12 years, I would much rather write and express my thoughts on a topic, than solve a math problem. Maybe if I had not been pushed towards math all that time, I would have found my interests in writing, and other writing-based subjects earlier.
Another aspect that I remember of my K-12 experience was not seeing myself or my history reflected in our curriculum. My family members were refugees and immigrants from Laos that came to the US as a result of the American War in Southeast Asia. In school we barely learned about this war. When we did, it was from an American viewpoint, which focused on the reasons America decided to go to war, and on war activities in Vietnam. We never learned about the effects that this war had on marginalized ethnic groups in Vietnam, or the effects of the war on the surrounding countries of Laos and Cambodia. As a result, I grew up knowing very little about how or why I was born in this country, and what my parents and family members had lived through. My family never talked about it, firstly because it wasn’t a pleasant subject, secondly because they trusted the school to teach me everything that I needed to know.
In the 10th grade, I took this matter into my own hands. We had to do a project on a topic of personal interest to us, and I chose to focus on the effects of the Vietnam War on Laos, and Laotian/Laotian Americans. I did my own research online and at the library, and I interviewed several community members. I began to piece together the history of my own family. I learned that Laotian Americans were living in the United States as a direct result of the war in Vietnam. Many came as refugees, some to escape the poverty and violence that the war caused. Others fled because the US had involved the Lao Royal Army in the war and anyone involved now face violent repercussions from the new government. Through that project, I learned that my grandfather and father fled because of the latter, and that is why I am here today. During the process of my project, my advising teacher asked me why this project was important to me. I did not know how to explain to her how much my newfound history weighed on me, how I came to realize that the whole course of my life was affected by this war. Since that time, I came to realize how important it was for students to learn about their own histories. Knowing where I came from strengthened my sense of identity and my connection to others from a similar background. It made me admire and respect my elders and family members more. Remembering how and why I am here motivates my work with immigrant and refugee youth and their education, and with Southeast Asian Americans facing deportation.
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